Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce weighed in on immigration reform Friday
with a white paper that advocates reforms including a path to citizenship for
undocumented workers.

With a few exceptions, the Hispanic chamber's white paper is similar in many
respects to a policy statement issued last week by the Tucson Metropolitan
Chamber of Commerce and a soon-to-be-released statement from the Southern
Arizona Chamber Alliance, said Mich Coker, chair of the public policy
committee for the Hispanic chamber.

According to its white paper, the Hispanic chamber:

● Opposes legislation that excessively punishes employers who hire
undocumented workers until a dependable, foolproof verification system is in
place;

● Opposes mandates to require guest workers to return to their home
countries before becoming eligible to apply for legal status;

● Opposes construction of a new fence along the Mexican border;

● Supports federal reimbursement of state and local expenses relating to
immigration reform, including enforcement, education and health care;

● Supports changing the federal immigration law to allow states to determine
which students should qualify as residents for postsecondary educational
benefits, including in-state tuition.

Key to the chamber's white paper is the overriding theme that the federal
government needs to deal with the realities of undocumented immigrants and
their place in economy, said Tomás León, president of the Hispanic chamber.

"The reality is they have become part of the economic engine of this state
and our country," León said. "A policy that would send undocumented workers
back would be a detriment to the small-business community of this state and
our country."

The reality of building a 50-foot fence at the border to deter illegal
immigration is that a "company that builds a 51-foot ladder is going to do a
great business," he said.

The Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce released its own policy
statement last week, one that mirrors the Hispanic chamber's stance in
opposing any sanctions against employers until there are sufficient
verification tools to identify undocumented workers.

Their policy statement also includes opposing the mass deportation of
undocumented workers, though it stops short of allowing them a path to
citizenship, said Jack Camper, president of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber
of Commerce.

"What we favor is everybody coming out of the shadows, paying a fine and
becoming part of a legal guest-worker program," Camper said. "That would not
necessarily take away their right to apply for citizenship, but what it does
say is you can be part of a guest-worker program and get in line with
everybody else for citizenship."

The problem with the existing pathway for citizenship is that is it so
overwhelmed and underfunded that people legally applying for citizenship in
1999 are still awaiting processing, León said.

"We have too much bottlenecking in our immigration policy right now and that
bottleneck is causing overflow and encouraging people to go through a
process outside the legal system," he said.

If undocumented workers identify themselves, pay a fine, learn English, and
go through citizenship courses, they should be eligible for citizenship,
Leon said. Such a process is a far cry from amnesty, which amounts to giving
undocumented workers a "free ride," León said.

"This process holds them accountable for having been here and not having
gone through the local process," he said. "It's a pathway to legal
citizenship has some pretty high consequences that have to be paid out, and
I think it's responsible and accountable."

Officials from more than 10 different chambers of commerce, including the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, met
Wednesday in Nogales, Sonora, to discuss immigration reform, said Marcelino
Varona, of the Nogales-Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce.

"It was a historic meeting and it was very productive, and a press release
from the Southern Arizona Chamber Alliance will should be coming out very
soon as a result of that meeting," Varona said.